Book Details

About This Book

Step-by-step instructions with expert tips from installation to implementation

Can be used to learn any version of Essbase starting from 4.x to 11.x

For beginners as well as experienced professionals; no Essbase experience required

Who This Book Is For

This book is primarily for the IT professional who has a good understanding of IT principles and processes but is a multidimensional OLAP novice. Experienced OLAP professionals will also gain insight from this book.

Simply put, if you are in the IT field and wish to gain a functional level of knowledge in the world of Oracle Essbase, whether it be for a developer role or a PM or BA role, this is the book you need.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Installing Oracle Essbase

Installing the Essbase analytic server

Installing Essbase Administration Services

Starting the EAS

Installing the Essbase Add-in for Microsoft Excel

A typical network setup

Summary

Chapter 2: Essbase Data and Design Considerations

Introduction to OLAP

Determining the data requirements

Determine data storage options

Types of Essbase applications

Creating your first Essbase application

Types of Essbase databases

Database components

Allowing duplicate member names

Creat﻿e your first Essbase database

Types of Essbase users

Summary

Chapter 3: Building the Essbase Outline

Before we begin

The Essbase outline—the foundation

Dimensions and members

Types of dimensions

Build your first outline

Member properties

Build your first data rules file

Update your outline using a rules file

Attribute dimensions

User Defined Attributes (UDA)

Dynamic Time Series

Shared members

Summary

Chapter 4: Loading Data into Essbase

Make your data Essbase-friendly

Types of data sources

Data load methods

Building your first data load rules file

Loading data into your database

Data Load vs. Dimension Build

Summary

Chapter 5: Calculating your Essbase Cube

Calculating your database

Calculation types explained

Essbase calculation terminology

Default database calculation script

Calc All

Calculate/Aggregate dimension

Essbase Calc commands and functions

Order of calculation

Two-Pass Calc

Using Substitution Variables

Building your first Calculation Script

Executing your Calculation Scripts

Summary

Chapter 6: Using your Essbase Cube

Using your Essbase database

Ways to extract your Essbase data

The Essbase Report Script

Executing your report scripts

Previewing data in EAS

Summary

Chapter 7: Getting the most out of the Microsoft Excel Add-in

Reporting with the Microsoft Excel Add-in

Using the Essbase Query Designer

Summary

Chapter 8: Automating your Essbase Cube

Essbase command scripts (EssCmd)

Essbase MaxL scripts

Essbase Application Programming Interface (API)

Summary

Chapter 9: Advanced Techniques

Performance tuning your database

The shape of your database outline

Database configuration settings

Partitioning databases

Analytic server configuration file

Memory management

Summary

Chapter 10: Essbase Analytics Option

What is ASO

MDX query language

Pros and cons of ASO and BSO

Summary

Chapter 11: Essbase System 9 Components

Overview of System 9 components

Summary

What You Will Learn

Dig into the concept of multidimensional database cubes and explore the similarities to and differences from traditional relational databases

Build effective database outlines including dimensions and members

Extract data from source systems like SQL Sources or Input Data Files and load them into Essbase cubes

Perform required and optional maintenance and performance-tuning tasks just like an experienced Essbase administrator

In Detail

The hot new data analysis trends involve business intelligence and analytics. The technology that supports business intelligence and analytics better than anything else is today's multidimensional OLAP technology – and there is none better than Oracle Essbase! Although storing data in a cube and developing analytical applications leaves many people grasping for understanding, especially if their experience is with relational databases, embracing OLAP technology will pay big dividends in the long run.

It's easy to develop multidimensional analytic OLAP solutions when you have got this Oracle Essbase book to hand. It is a step-by-step guide to timeless Essbase fundamentals, which takes you from a basic software installation through to launching a fully functioning Essbase database cube.

This book will guide you through every stage of installing Oracle's Essbase software on your analytic server, the Essbase Administration Services client, and the client software itself. You will learn, in easy-to-understand language, the concepts of multidimensional database technology as you are taken step by step through building an actual Essbase application complete with database, database calculation scripts, and database report scripts.

Once you have your system built and functional, the next course of instruction covers the available automation features included in your Essbase software package and how to use them. These chapters alone are worth the price of admission!As an IT professional you quite rightly have a desire to understand multidimensional OLAP – this book gives you that understanding. Should you wish to embark on an exciting career as an Essbase developer/administrator, this book provides a fantastic foundation from which to grow.

Best of all, this book is filled with the tips and tricks that you can only get from many years and countless hours spent playing with Essbase. You get them all in just the time it takes you to complete this book.

Authors

Joseph Sydney Gomez

Joe Gomez has been an Essbase developer, designer, and administrator for almost 10 years.

Sarma Anantapantula

Sarma Anantapantula currently works as an Essbase Consultant in the OLAP Center of Excellence at the Ford Motor Company.

Alerts & Offers

Series & Level

We understand your time is important. Uniquely amongst the major publishers, we seek to develop and publish the broadest range of learning and information products on each technology. Every Packt product delivers a specific learning pathway, broadly defined by the Series type. This structured approach enables you to select the pathway which best suits your knowledge level, learning style and task objectives.

Learning

As a new user, these step-by-step tutorial guides will give you all the practical skills necessary to become competent and efficient.

Beginner's Guide

Friendly, informal tutorials that provide a practical introduction using examples, activities, and challenges.

Essentials

Fast paced, concentrated introductions showing the quickest way to put the tool to work in the real world.

Cookbook

A collection of practical self-contained recipes that all users of the technology will find useful for building more powerful and reliable systems.

Blueprints

Guides you through the most common types of project you'll encounter, giving you end-to-end guidance on how to build your specific solution quickly and reliably.

Mastering

Take your skills to the next level with advanced tutorials that will give you confidence to master the tool's most powerful features.

Starting

Accessible to readers adopting the topic, these titles get you into the tool or technology so that you can become an effective user.

Progressing

Building on core skills you already have, these titles share solutions and expertise so you become a highly productive power user.